In general, when a user takes a photo or a video, the user needs to capture an image, while keeping a camera leveled without tremor. As anyone can easily shoot with a compact video camera, a camcorder, or a portable phone while moving outdoors, requirements and demands for improving portable equipment that stabilizes a video camera, a camcorder, or a portable phone without tremor are on the increase. For example, to achieve flexible, high-quality results for movies, video, or photos, efforts have been made to get in-focus shots during movement.
In this context, horizontal-posture maintaining apparatuses for enabling a camera to shoot in horizontal posture have been developed, such as a gimbal or a steadicam.
In such a horizontal-posture maintaining apparatus, a driver is provided for each axis and operates to maintain leveling. A rotational axis is involved stepwise in the next axis rotation. That is, if rotation around the Z axis occurs, an X-axis driver, a Y-axis driver, and support structures also rotate, and for the X axis, only an X-axis related support structure rotates. The horizontal-posture maintaining apparatus is designed in such a manner that a separate camera is mounted to the apparatus, particularly fixedly mounted to an end of a final rotational axis, the X axis.
However, since the drivers are near to the rotational axes and thus the X-axis driver and the Y-axis driver are positioned ahead of and behind the camera, respectively, the horizontal-posture maintaining apparatus is long and bulky on the whole. In other words, since the product should provide the X-axis driver and the Y-axis driver ahead of and behind the camera, and structures for supporting rotations of the X-axis driver and the Y-axis driver as well as a space for mounting a camera module, the resulting increase in the size of the product makes it impossible to apply the product to an ultra-small camera module, to miniaturize the product, and to render the product slim.
Moreover, the X-axis driver, the Y-axis driver, and the structures of the X-axis driver and the Y-axis driver are arranged extended along the forward and backward directions of the camera in the horizontal-posture maintaining apparatus. As a result, the long structures lead to large rotations and thus tremor of the structures cause vibrations.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.